CUA Professor Defends Religious Freedom in Court and Class

It has been a banner term at the U.S. Supreme Court for Mark Rienzi, the Catholic University of America law professor and First Amendment litigator who helped secure key victories this summer in two closely watched cases.

Rienzi represented Hobby Lobby in its successful legal challenge to the Health and Human Services contraceptive mandate and also served as legal counsel for Eleanor McCullen, the pro-life sidewalk counselor who won her 14-year legal battle against Massachusetts’ “buffer zone” law.

Further, since December 2013, Rienzi has secured temporary injunctions from the high court for the Little Sisters of the Poor and for Wheaton College — two religious employers that hope to win an exemption from the HHS mandate.

As senior counsel for the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, a public interest group that represents many HHS plaintiffs, his legal strategy has helped Eternal Word Television Network (EWTN) obtain emergency relief until its appeal is resolved. The Register is a service of EWTN. ...